J.C.
: Gaius Julius Caesar spelling and of his name is Gaius Iulius Caesar, . His titulary name was Imperator Gaius Iulius Gai(i) filius Gai(i) nepos Caesar Patris Patriae "Commander Gaius Julius Caesar, son of Gaius, grandson of Gaius, Father of his Country", (Suetonius, Divus Julius 76.1). Official name after in 42 BC: Divus Iulius ("The Divine Julius").}} ( , ; 12 or 13 July 100 BC before 1 January 45 BC, and in the Julian calendar as observed in Rome on and after that date. There is some dispute over the year of Caesar's birth. Some scholars have made a case for 101 or 102 BC as the year of his birth, based on the dates that he held certain magistracies, but scholarly consensus favors 100 BC. Similarly, some scholars prefer 12 July, but most give 13 July.}} – 15 March 44 BC), and there is an uncertainty of about a day as to where those dates would be on the .}} known by his and Julius Caesar, was a Roman dictator, politician, and military general who played a critical role in the and the rise of the . He was also a historian and wrote prose. In 60 BC, Caesar, and formed the , a political alliance that dominated for several years. Their attempts to amass power as were opposed by the within the , among them with the frequent support of . Caesar rose to become one of the most powerful politicians in the Roman Republic through a number of his accomplishments, notably his victories in the , completed by 51 BC. During this time, Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both the and the , when he built a and crossed the Channel to . Caesar's wars extended Rome's territory to Britain and past . These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate after the in 53 BC. With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Leaving his command in Gaul meant losing his immunity from being charged as a criminal for waging unsanctioned wars. As a result, Caesar found himself but to with the in 49 BC, leaving his province and illegally entering under arms. This began , and his victory in the war by 45 BC put him in an unrivalled position of power and influence. After assuming control of government, Caesar began a program of social and governmental reforms, including the creation of the . He gave citizenship to many residents of far regions of the Roman Republic. He initiated land reform and support for veterans. He centralized the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed " " (Latin: "dictator perpetuo"), giving him additional authority. His populist and authoritarian reforms angered the elites, who began to conspire against him. On the (15 March), 44 BC, by a group of rebellious senators led by , and , who stabbed him to death. A new broke out and the was never fully restored. Caesar's adopted heir Octavian, later known as , rose to sole power after defeating his opponents in the . Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the began. Much of Caesar's life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns and from other contemporary sources, mainly the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of . The later biographies of Caesar by and are also major sources. Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history. His cognomen was subsequently adopted as a for "Emperor"; the was used throughout the Roman Empire, giving rise to modern s such as and . He has , and his political philosophy, known as ,'' inspired politicians into the modern era. Early life and career The early career of was characterized by military adventurism and political persecution. Julius Caesar was born on July 13, 100 BC, into a patrician family, the Julia, which claimed descent from Iulus, son of the legendary Trojan prince Aeneas, supposedly the son of the goddess Venus. His father died when he was just 16, leaving Caesar as the head of the household. His family status put him at odds with the Dictator , who almost had him executed. At about that time, Caesar found himself captured by pirates, only to crucify his former captors after he was ransomed. Soon he began his military career. He served in , married Sulla's granddaughter and was elected chief priest, all in rapid succession! Shortly after this, he was suspected, though not convicted, of involvement in the . Soon he was leaving for a governorship in Hispania and positioning himself to be one of the most important figures in history. Early life and family Caesar was born into an aristocratic family, the '' , which claimed descent from , son of the legendary prince , supposedly the son of the goddess . The "Caesar" originated, according to , with an ancestor who was born by (from the Latin verb to cut, caedere, caes-''). The '' suggests three : that the first Caesar had a thick head of hair (Latin caesaries); that he had bright grey eyes (Latin oculis caesiis); or that he killed an elephant (caesai in Moorish) in battle. Caesar issued coins featuring images of elephants, suggesting that he favoured this interpretation of his name. Despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential, having produced only three . Caesar's father, also called , reached the rank of , the second highest of the Republic's elected magistracies, and governed the province of , perhaps through the influence of his prominent brother-in-law . His mother, , came from an influential family which had produced several consuls. , an orator and grammarian of ish origin, was employed as Caesar's tutor. Caesar had two older sisters, known as and . Little else is recorded of Caesar's childhood. and 's biographies of him both begin abruptly in Caesar's teens; the opening paragraphs of both appear to be lost. The Marius-Sulla civil war Caesar's formative years were a time of turmoil, and "savage bloodshed". The was fought from 91 to 88 BC between Rome and her Italian allies over the issue of , while of threatened Rome's eastern provinces. Domestically, Roman politics was divided between politicians known as and . The optimates tended to be more conservative, defended the interests of the upper class and used and promoted the authority of the Senate; the populares advocated reform in the interests of the masses and used and promoted the authority of the Popular Assemblies. These were not official political parties, but were instead loose confederations of like-minded individuals who would often switch sides. Caesar's uncle was a popularis, Marius' protégé was an optimas, and in Caesar's youth their rivalry led to civil war. Both Marius and Sulla distinguished themselves in the Social War, and both wanted command of the war against Mithridates, which was initially given to Sulla; but when Sulla left the city to take command of his army, a passed a law transferring the appointment to Marius. Sulla responded by marching his army on Rome (the first time ever this happened and an influence for Caesar in his later career as he contemplated crossing the Rubicon), reclaiming his command and forcing Marius into exile, but when he left on campaign Marius returned at the head of a makeshift army. He and his ally seized the city and declared Sulla a public enemy, and Marius's troops took violent revenge on Sulla's supporters. Marius died early in 86 BC, but his followers remained in power. In 85 BC Caesar's father died suddenly while putting on his shoes one morning, without any apparent cause, and at sixteen, Caesar was the head of the family. The following year he was nominated to be the new , high priest of , as , the previous incumbent, had died in Marius's purges. Since the holder of that position not only had to be a patrician but also be married to a patrician, he broke off his engagement to , a plebeian girl of wealthy family he had been betrothed to since boyhood, and married Cinna's daughter . Then, having brought Mithridates to terms, Sulla returned to finish the civil war against Marius' followers. After a campaign throughout Italy he seized Rome at the in November 82 BC and had himself appointed to the revived office of ; but whereas a dictator was traditionally appointed for six months at a time, Sulla's appointment had no term limit. Statues of Marius were destroyed and Marius' body was exhumed and thrown in the Tiber. Cinna was already dead, killed by his own soldiers in a mutiny. Sulla's s saw hundreds of his political enemies killed or exiled. Caesar, as the nephew of Marius and son-in-law of Cinna, was targeted. He was stripped of his inheritance, his wife's dowry and his priesthood, but he refused to divorce Cornelia and was forced to go into hiding. The threat against him was lifted by the intervention of his mother's family, which included supporters of Sulla, and the . Sulla gave in reluctantly, and is said to have declared that he saw many a Marius in Caesar. Military service Feeling it much safer to be far away from Sulla should the Dictator change his mind, Caesar quit Rome and joined the army, serving under in and in . He served with distinction, winning the for his part in the siege of . On a mission to to secure the assistance of King fleet, he spent so long at his court that rumours of an affair with the king Nicomedes arose. The loss of his priesthood had allowed him to pursue a military career: the Flamen Dialis was not permitted to touch a horse, sleep three nights outside his own bed or one night outside Rome, or look upon an army. Return to Rome In 79 BC, resigned his dictatorship, re-established consular government and, after serving as consul in 80 BC, retired to private life. In a manner that the historian thought arrogant, Julius Caesar would later mock Sulla for resigning the Dictatorship—"Sulla did not know his political ABC's". He died later in 78 BC and was accorded a state funeral. Hearing of Sulla's death, Caesar felt safe enough to return to Rome. Lacking means since his inheritance was confiscated, he acquired a modest house in the , a lower-class neighbourhood of Rome. His return coincided with an attempted anti-Sullan coup by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus but Caesar, lacking confidence in Lepidus's leadership, did not participate. Instead he turned to legal advocacy. He became known for his exceptional oratory, accompanied by impassioned gestures and a high-pitched voice, and ruthless prosecution of former governors notorious for and . Even praised him: "Come now, what orator would you rank above him...?" Aiming at al perfection, Caesar travelled to in 75 BC to study under , who had previously taught Cicero. Kidnapping by pirates On the way across the , Caesar was kidnapped by n and held prisoner in the islet of . He maintained an attitude of superiority throughout his captivity. While held captive for a period of thirty-eight days he would participate in his captors' games, exercise alongside them, and order them to be silent when they were loud. During this time, Caesar also wrote poems and practiced his public speaking. He read his prose out loud to the pirates, flatly calling them illiterate barbarians if his work wasn't appreciated. The pirates were greatly entertained by his arrogance, which they attributed to the young man's age. When the pirates thought to demand a ransom of twenty of gold, he insisted they ask for fifty. After the ransom was paid, Caesar raised a fleet, pursued and captured the pirates, and imprisoned them in . Marcus Junctus, the governor of , refused to execute them as Caesar demanded, preferring to sell them as slaves, but Caesar returned to the coast and had them crucified on his own authority, as he had promised while in captivity—a promise the pirates had taken as a joke. As a sign of leniency, he first had their throats cut. He then proceeded to Rhodes, but was soon called back into military action in Asia, raising a band of to repel an incursion from Pontus. Caesar begins a political career .}} On his return to Rome he was elected military , a first step on the of Roman politics. The against took place around this time (73–71 BC), but it is not recorded what role, if any, Caesar played in it. He was elected for 69 BC, and during that year he delivered the , widow of Marius, and included images of Marius, unseen since the days of Sulla, in the funeral procession. His own wife Cornelia also died that year. After her funeral, in the spring or early summer of 69 BC, Caesar went to serve his quaestorship in under Antistius Vetus. While there he is said to have encountered a statue of , and realised with dissatisfaction he was now at an age when Alexander had the world at his feet, while he had achieved comparatively little. He requested, and was granted, an early discharge from his duties, and returned to Roman politics. On his return in 67 BC, he married , a granddaughter of Sulla. He was curator of the in 66 BC and after taking out massive loans began a reconstruction project of the ancient road. This was a gamble as it placed him in early debt but allowed voters traveling to the city to see the work he had done. He was elected and restored the trophies of Marius's victories; a controversial move given the Sullan regime was still in place. He also brought prosecutions against men who had benefited from Sulla's proscriptions, and spent a great deal of borrowed money on public works and games, outshining his colleague . He was also suspected of involvement in two abortive coup attempts. 63 BC: Caesar comes to prominence The trial of Gaius Rabirius .}} In 63 a tribune, , prosecuted the elderly optimate senator for the killing, 37 years previously, of the populist tribune , who had been declared a public enemy by the Senate after a candidate for the consulship had been murdered during an election. Caesar was one of the two judges, and says he had bribed Labienus to bring the prosecution. The charge was the archaic offence of , a form of treason, the punishment for which was crucifixion. Rabirius was defended by , who argued that he had not killed Saturninus, and , who argued that the killing of Saturninus was lawful as it had been done under the , a declaration of a state of emergency which authorised the consuls to do whatever it took to protect the Republic. Rabirius was convicted, and exercised his right of appeal to the people. During his appeal, a procedural technicality was contrived - the took down the military flag from the Janiculum hill, indicating foreign invasion - and proceedings were adjourned. The prosecution was never resumed. The purpose of the trial is obscure, but it has been interpreted as a challenge to the use of the senatus consultum ultimum. characterises it as a populist attack on the authority of the Senate. Labienus would remain an important ally of Caesar over the next decade, and served under him during the Gallic wars. Pontifex Maximus The same year, Caesar ran for election to the post of , chief priest of the Roman state religion, after the death of , who had been appointed to the post by Sulla. He ran against two powerful optimates, the former consuls and . There were accusations of bribery by all sides. Caesar is said to have told his mother on the morning of the election that he would return as Pontifex Maximus or not at all, expecting to be forced into exile by the enormous debts he had run up to fund his campaign. He won comfortably, despite his opponents' greater experience and standing, possibly because the two older men split their votes. The post came with an official residence on the . The conspiracy of Catiline When Cicero, who was consul that year, exposed 's conspiracy to seize control of the republic, Catulus and others accused Caesar of involvement in the plot. Caesar, who had been elected praetor for the following year, took part in the debate in the Senate on how to deal with the conspirators. During the debate, Caesar was passed a note. , who would become his most implacable political opponent, accused him of corresponding with the conspirators, and demanded that the message be read aloud. Caesar passed him the note, which, embarrassingly, turned out to be a love letter from Cato's half-sister . Caesar argued persuasively against the death penalty for the conspirators, proposing life imprisonment instead, but a speech by Cato proved decisive, and the conspirators were executed. The following year a commission was set up to investigate the conspiracy, and Caesar was again accused of complicity. On Cicero's evidence that he had reported what he knew of the plot voluntarily, however, he was cleared, and one of his accusers, and also one of the commissioners, were sent to prison. 62 BC: Scandal Praetorship While praetor in 62 BC, Caesar supported Metellus Nepos, now tribune, in proposing controversial legislation that would recall Pompey and his army in order to quell the rising disorder in Italy. However, the pair were so obstinate in their proposals that they were suspended from office by the Senate. Caesar attempted to continue to perform his duties, only giving way when violence was threatened. The Senate was persuaded to reinstate him after he quelled public demonstrations in his favour. The Bona Dea Scandal That year the festival of the ("good goddess") was held at the domus publicus, Caesar's residence as pontifex maximus. No men were permitted to attend, but a young patrician named managed to gain admittance disguised as a woman, apparently for the purpose of seducing Caesar's wife . He was caught and prosecuted for sacrilege. Caesar gave no evidence against Clodius at his trial, careful not to offend one of the most powerful patrician families of Rome, and Clodius was acquitted after rampant bribery and intimidation. Nevertheless, Caesar divorced Pompeia, saying that "the wife of Caesar must be above suspicion." 61 BC: Governorship in Hispania After his praetorship, Caesar was appointed to govern (Outer ), but he was still in considerable debt and needed to satisfy his creditors before he could leave. He turned to , one of Rome's richest men. In return for political support in his opposition to the interests of , Crassus paid some of Caesar's debts and acted as guarantor for others. Even so, to avoid becoming a private citizen and open to prosecution for his debts, Caesar left for his province before his praetorship had ended. In Hispania he conquered the and , being hailed as by his troops, reformed the law regarding debts, and completed his governorship in high esteem. 60 BC: Campaign for the Consulship By the time Caesar returned to Rome mid-year in 60 BC, the senate had granted him the title of imperator, a title which entitled him to a . However, he also wanted to stand for , the most senior magistracy in the republic. If he were to celebrate a triumph, he would have to remain a soldier and stay outside the city until the ceremony, but to stand for election he would need to lay down his command and enter Rome as a private citizen. He could not do both in the time available. He asked the senate for permission to stand in absentia, but Cato blocked the proposal. Faced with the choice between a triumph and the consulship, Caesar chose the consulship. Consulship and military campaigns depicting Julius Caesar, dated February–March 44 BC—the goddess is shown on the reverse, holding and a scepter. Caption: CAESAR IMP. M. / L. AEMILIVS BVCA}} in the , Paris, France}} In 60 BC, Caesar sought election as consul for 59 BC, along with two other candidates. The election was sordid – even , with his reputation for incorruptibility, is said to have resorted to bribery in favour of one of Caesar's opponents. Caesar won, along with conservative . Caesar was already in ' political debt, but he also made overtures to . Pompey and Crassus had been at odds for a decade, so Caesar tried to reconcile them. The three of them had enough money and political influence to control public business. This informal alliance, known as the ("rule of three men"), was cemented by the marriage of Pompey to Caesar's daughter . Caesar also married again, this time , who was the daughter of another powerful senator. Caesar proposed a law for redistributing public lands to the poor—by force of arms, if need be—a proposal supported by Pompey and by Crassus, making the triumvirate public. Pompey filled the city with soldiers, a move which intimidated the triumvirate's opponents. Bibulus attempted to declare the omens unfavourable and thus void the new law, but he was driven from the forum by Caesar's armed supporters. His s had their broken, two high magistrates accompanying him were wounded, and he had a bucket of excrement thrown over him. In fear of his life, he retired to his house for the rest of the year, issuing occasional proclamations of bad omens. These attempts proved ineffective in obstructing Caesar's legislation. ever after referred to the year as "the consulship of Julius and Caesar." When Caesar was first elected, the aristocracy tried to limit his future power by allotting the woods and pastures of Italy, rather than the of a province, as his military command duty after his year in office was over. With the help of political allies, Caesar later overturned this, and was instead appointed to govern (northern Italy) and (southeastern Europe), with (southern France) later added, giving him command of four legions. The term of his governorship, and thus his immunity from prosecution, was set at five years, rather than the usual one. When his consulship ended, Caesar narrowly avoided prosecution for the irregularities of his year in office, and quickly left for his province. Conquest of Gaul Caesar was still deeply in debt, but there was money to be made as a governor, whether by extortion or by military adventurism. Caesar had four legions under his command, two of his provinces bordered on unconquered territory, and parts of were known to be unstable. Some of Rome's Gallic allies had been defeated by their rivals at the , with the help of a contingent of tribes. The Romans feared these tribes were preparing to migrate south, closer to Italy, and that they had warlike intent. Caesar raised two new legions and defeated these tribes. In response to Caesar's earlier activities, the tribes in the north-east began to arm themselves. Caesar treated this as an aggressive move and, after an inconclusive engagement against the united tribes, he conquered the tribes piecemeal. Meanwhile, one of his legions began the conquest of the tribes in the far north, directly opposite . During the spring of 56 BC, the Triumvirs held a conference, as Rome was in turmoil and Caesar's political alliance was coming undone. The renewed the and extended Caesar's governorship for another five years. The conquest of the north was soon completed, while a few pockets of resistance remained. Caesar now had a secure base from which to launch an invasion of Britain. In 55 BC, Caesar repelled an incursion into Gaul by two Germanic tribes, and followed it up by building a bridge across the Rhine and making a show of force in Germanic territory, before returning and dismantling the bridge. Late that summer, having subdued two other tribes, he crossed into , claiming that the Britons had aided one of his enemies the previous year, possibly the of . His intelligence information was poor, and although he gained a beachhead on the coast, he could not advance further, and returned to Gaul for the winter. He returned the following year, better prepared and with a larger force, and achieved more. He advanced inland, and established a few alliances. However, poor harvests led to widespread revolt in Gaul, which forced Caesar to leave Britain for the last time. throws down his arms at the feet of Julius Caesar, painting by . , , France.}} While Caesar was in Britain his daughter Julia, Pompey's wife, had died in childbirth. Caesar tried to re-secure Pompey's support by offering him his great-niece in marriage, but Pompey declined. In 53 BC Crassus was killed leading a failed of the east. Rome was on the brink of civil war. Pompey was appointed sole consul as an emergency measure, and married the daughter of a political opponent of Caesar. The Triumvirate was dead. Though the Gallic tribes were just as strong as the Romans militarily, the internal division among the Gauls guaranteed an easy victory for Caesar. 's attempt in 52 BC to unite them against Roman invasion came too late. He proved an astute commander, defeating Caesar at the , but Caesar's elaborate siege-works at the finally forced his surrender. Despite scattered outbreaks of the following year, Gaul was effectively conquered. claimed that during the the army had fought against three million men (of whom one million died, and another million were enslaved), subjugated 300 tribes, and destroyed 800 cities. Civil war made during the reign of (27 BC – 14 AD), a copy of an original bust from 70–60 BC, , Italy}} In 50 BC, the (led by ) ordered Caesar to disband his army and return to Rome because his term as governor had finished. Caesar thought he would be prosecuted if he entered Rome without the immunity enjoyed by a magistrate. Pompey accused Caesar of insubordination and treason. On 10 January 49 BC, Caesar crossed the river (the frontier boundary of Italy) with only a single legion, the , and ignited . Upon , Caesar, according to and Suetonius, is supposed to have quoted the Athenian playwright , in Greek, " ". , however, notes that the more accurate Latin translation of the Greek would be "alea iacta esto", let the die be cast. Pompey and many of the Senate fled to the south, having little confidence in Pompey's newly raised troops. Pompey, despite greatly outnumbering Caesar, who only had his Thirteenth Legion with him, did not intend to fight. Caesar pursued Pompey, hoping to capture Pompey before his legions could escape. Pompey managed to escape before Caesar could capture him. Heading for , Caesar left Italy under the control of . After an astonishing 27-day route-march, Caesar defeated Pompey's lieutenants, then returned east, to challenge Pompey in Illyria, where, on 10 July 48 BC in the , Caesar barely avoided a catastrophic defeat. In an exceedingly short engagement later that year, he decisively defeated Pompey , in Greece on 9 August 48 BC. , 1866 painting by }} in , Italy, showing holding a is most likely a depiction of of as , with her son as the cupid, similar in appearance to the now lost statue of Cleopatra erected by Julius Caesar in the (within the ). The owner of the House of Marcus Fabius Rufus at Pompeii walled off the room with this painting, most likely in immediate reaction to the execution of Caesarion on orders of in 30 BC, when artistic depictions of Caesarion would have been considered for the ruling regime.}} In Rome, Caesar was appointed , with Mark Antony as his (second in command); Caesar presided over his own election to a second consulship and then, after 11 days, resigned this dictatorship. Caesar then pursued Pompey to Egypt, arriving soon after the murder of the general. There, Caesar was presented with Pompey's severed head and seal-ring, receiving these with tears. He then had Pompey's assassins put to death. Caesar then became involved with an Egyptian civil war between the child pharaoh and his sister, wife, and co-regent queen, . Perhaps as a result of the pharaoh's role in Pompey's murder, Caesar sided with Cleopatra. He withstood the and later he defeated the pharaoh's forces at the in 47 BC and installed Cleopatra as ruler. Caesar and Cleopatra celebrated their victory with a triumphal procession on the in the spring of 47 BC. The royal barge was accompanied by 400 additional ships, and Caesar was introduced to the luxurious lifestyle of the Egyptian pharaohs. Caesar and Cleopatra were not married. Caesar continued his relationship with Cleopatra throughout his last marriage—in Roman eyes, this did not constitute adultery—and probably fathered a son called . Cleopatra visited Rome on more than one occasion, residing in Caesar's villa just outside Rome across the . Late in 48 BC, Caesar was again appointed dictator, with a term of one year. After spending the first months of 47 BC in Egypt, Caesar went to the Middle East, where he annihilated the king of ; his victory was so swift and complete that he mocked Pompey's previous victories over such poor enemies. On his way to Pontus, Caesar visited from 27 to 29 May 47 BC (25–27 May ), where he met enthusiastic support, but where, according to , was planning to kill him at this point. Thence, he proceeded to Africa to deal with the remnants of Pompey's senatorial supporters. He was defeated by at on 4 January 46 BC but recovered to gain a significant victory at on 6 April 46 BC over Cato, who then committed suicide. After this victory, he was appointed dictator for 10 years. Pompey's sons escaped to Spain; Caesar gave chase and defeated the last remnants of opposition in the in March 45 BC. During this time, Caesar was elected to his third and fourth terms as consul in 46 BC and 45 BC (this last time without a colleague). Dictatorship and assassination While he was still campaigning in Spain, the Senate began bestowing honours on Caesar. Caesar had not proscribed his enemies, instead pardoning almost all, and there was no serious public opposition to him. Great games and celebrations were held in April to honour Caesar's victory at Munda. Plutarch writes that many Romans found the triumph held following Caesar's victory to be in poor taste, as those defeated in the civil war had not been foreigners, but instead fellow Romans. On Caesar's return to Italy in September 45 BC, he filed his will, naming his grandnephew (Octavian, later known as Augustus Caesar) as his principal heir, leaving his vast estate and property including his name. Caesar also wrote that if Octavian died before Caesar did, would be the next heir in succession. In his will, he also left a substantial gift to the citizens of Rome. Between his crossing of the Rubicon in 49 BC, and his in 44 BC, Caesar established a new constitution, which was intended to accomplish three separate goals. First, he wanted to suppress all armed resistance out in the provinces, and thus bring order back to the Republic. Second, he wanted to create a strong central government in Rome. Finally, he wanted to knit together all of the provinces into a single cohesive unit. The first goal was accomplished when Caesar defeated Pompey and his supporters. To accomplish the other two goals, he needed to ensure that his control over the government was undisputed, so he assumed these powers by increasing his own authority, and by decreasing the authority of Rome's other political institutions. Finally, he enacted a series of reforms that were meant to address several long-neglected issues, the most important of which was his reform of the calendar. Dictatorship , of the 1st century AD, , Berlin}} , Rome}} When Caesar returned to Rome, the Senate granted him for his victories, ostensibly those over Gaul, Egypt, , and , rather than over his Roman opponents. Not everything went Caesar's way. When , Egypt's former queen, was paraded in chains, the spectators admired her dignified bearing and were moved to pity. were held, with involving 400 lions, and . A was held on a flooded basin at the . At the , two armies of war captives, each of 2,000 people, 200 horses, and 20 elephants, fought to the death. Again, some bystanders complained, this time at Caesar's wasteful extravagance. A riot broke out, and only stopped when Caesar had two rioters sacrificed by the priests on the Field of Mars. After the triumph, Caesar set out to pass an ambitious legislative agenda. He ordered a census be taken, which forced a reduction in the , and decreed that jurors could only come from the Senate or the equestrian ranks. He passed a that restricted the purchase of certain luxuries. After this, he passed a law that rewarded families for having many children, to speed up the repopulation of Italy. Then, he outlawed professional guilds, except those of ancient foundation, since many of these were subversive political clubs. He then passed a term-limit law applicable to governors. He passed a debt-restructuring law, which ultimately eliminated about a fourth of all debts owed. The , with its , was then built, among many other public works. Caesar also tightly regulated the purchase of state-subsidised grain and reduced the number of recipients to a fixed number, all of whom were entered into a special register. From 47 to 44 BC, he made plans for the distribution of land to about 15,000 of his veterans. The most important change, however, was his reform of the calendar. The Roman calendar at the time was regulated by the movement of the moon. By replacing it with the Egyptian calendar, based on the sun, Roman farmers were able to use it as the basis of consistent seasonal planting from year to year. He set the length of the year to 365.25 days by adding an at the end of February every fourth year. To bring the calendar into alignment with the seasons, he decreed that three extra months be inserted into 46 BC (the ordinary intercalary month at the end of February, and two extra months after November). Thus, the opened on 1 January 45 BC. This calendar is almost identical to . Shortly before his assassination, he passed a few more reforms. He established a police force, appointed officials to carry out his land reforms, and ordered the rebuilding of and . He also extended Latin rights throughout the Roman world, and then abolished the tax system and reverted to the earlier version that allowed cities to collect tribute however they wanted, rather than needing Roman intermediaries. His assassination prevented further and larger schemes, which included the construction of an unprecedented temple to Mars, a huge theatre, and a library on the scale of the . He also wanted to convert to a major port, and cut a canal through the . Militarily, he wanted to conquer the ns and ns, and avenge the loss at . Thus, he instituted a massive mobilisation. Shortly before his assassination, the Senate named him censor for life and , and the month of was renamed July in his honour. He was granted further honours, which were later used to justify his assassination as a would-be divine monarch: coins were issued bearing his image and his statue was placed next to those of the kings. He was granted a golden chair in the Senate, was allowed to wear triumphal dress whenever he chose, and was offered a form of semi-official or popular , with Mark Antony as his . Political reforms , 1808}} The history of Caesar's political appointments is complex and uncertain. Caesar held both the and the , but alternated between the and the ship. His powers within the state seem to have rested upon these magistracies. He was first appointed dictator in 49 BC, possibly to preside over elections, but resigned his dictatorship within 11 days. In 48 BC, he was reappointed dictator, only this time for an indefinite period, and in 46 BC, he was appointed dictator for 10 years. In 48 BC, Caesar was given permanent tribunician powers, which made his person sacrosanct and allowed him to veto the Senate, although on at least one occasion, tribunes did attempt to obstruct him. The offending tribunes in this case were brought before the Senate and divested of their office. This was not the first time Caesar had violated a tribune's sacrosanctity. After he had first marched on Rome in 49 BC, he forcibly opened the treasury, although a tribune had the seal placed on it. After the impeachment of the two obstructive tribunes, Caesar, perhaps unsurprisingly, faced no further opposition from other members of the Tribunician College. When Caesar returned to Rome in 47 BC, the ranks of the Senate had been severely depleted, so he used his censorial powers to appoint many new senators, which eventually raised the Senate's membership to 900. All the appointments were of his own partisans, which robbed the senatorial aristocracy of its prestige, and made the Senate increasingly subservient to him. To minimise the risk that another general might attempt to challenge him, Caesar passed a law that subjected governors to term limits. In 46 BC, Caesar gave himself the title of "Prefect of the Morals", which was an office that was new only in name, as its powers were identical to those of the . Thus, he could hold censorial powers, while technically not subjecting himself to the same checks to which the ordinary censors were subject, and he used these powers to fill the Senate with his own partisans. He also set the precedent, which his imperial successors followed, of requiring the Senate to bestow various titles and honours upon him. He was, for example, given the title of "Father of the Fatherland" and " ". Coins bore his likeness, and he was given the right to speak first during Senate meetings. Caesar then increased the number of magistrates who were elected each year, which created a large pool of experienced magistrates, and allowed Caesar to reward his supporters. Caesar even took steps to transform Italy into a province, and to link more tightly the other provinces of the empire into a single cohesive unit. This addressed the underlying problem that had caused the decades earlier, where persons from outside Rome or Italy did not have citizenship. This process, of fusing the entire Roman Empire into a single unit, rather than maintaining it as a network of unequal principalities, would ultimately be completed by Caesar's successor, the Emperor Augustus. In February 44 BC, one month before his assassination, he was appointed dictator in perpetuity. Under Caesar, a significant amount of authority was vested in his lieutenants, mostly because Caesar was frequently out of Italy. In October 45 BC, Caesar resigned his position as sole consul, and facilitated the election of two successors for the remainder of the year, which theoretically restored the ordinary consulship, since the constitution did not recognise a single consul without a colleague. (42 BC) issued by Gaius Cassius Longinus and , depicting the crowned head of and on the reverse a sacrificial jug and , from the military mint in . Caption: C. CASSI. IMP. LEIBERTAS / LENTVLVS SPINT.}} Near the end of his life, Caesar began to prepare for a . Since his absence from Rome might limit his ability to install his own consuls, he passed a law which allowed him to appoint all magistrates in 43 BC, and all consuls and tribunes in 42 BC. This, in effect, transformed the magistrates from being representatives of the people to being representatives of the dictator. Assassination On the (15 March; see ) of 44 BC, Caesar was due to appear at a session of the Senate. Several Senators had conspired to assassinate Caesar. Mark Antony, having vaguely learned of the plot the night before from a terrified liberator named , and fearing the worst, went to head Caesar off. The plotters, however, had anticipated this and, fearing that Antony would come to Caesar's aid, had arranged for to intercept him just as he approached the portico of the , where the session was to be held, and detain him outside (Plutarch, however, assigns this action of delaying Antony to ). When he heard the commotion from the Senate chamber, Antony fled. According to , as Caesar arrived at the Senate, presented him with a petition to recall his exiled brother. The other conspirators crowded round to offer support. Both Plutarch and Suetonius say that Caesar waved him away, but Cimber grabbed his shoulders and pulled down Caesar's . Caesar then cried to Cimber, "Why, this is violence!" ("Ista quidem vis est!"). encircle Caesar, a 19th-century interpretation of the event by }} Casca simultaneously produced his dagger and made a glancing thrust at the dictator's neck. Caesar turned around quickly and caught Casca by the arm. According to Plutarch, he said in Latin, "Casca, you villain, what are you doing?" Casca, frightened, shouted, "Help, brother!" in (" ", "adelphe, boethei"). Within moments, the entire group, including Brutus, was striking out at the dictator. Caesar attempted to get away, but, blinded by blood, he tripped and fell; the men continued stabbing him as he lay defenceless on the lower steps of the portico. According to , around 60 men participated in the assassination. He was stabbed 23 times. According to Suetonius, a physician later established that only one wound, the second one to his chest, had been lethal. The dictator's are not known with certainty, and are a contested subject among scholars and historians alike. Suetonius reports that others have said Caesar's last words were the Greek phrase " ;}}" (transliterated as "Kai su, teknon?": "You too, child?" in English). However, Suetonius' own opinion was that Caesar said nothing. Plutarch also reports that Caesar said nothing, pulling his toga over his head when he saw Brutus among the conspirators. The version best known in the English-speaking world is the phrase " " ("And you, Brutus?", commonly rendered as "You too, Brutus?"); best known from Shakespeare's , where it actually forms the first half of a line: "Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar." This version was already popular when the play was written, as it appears in 's Latin play Caesar Interfectus of 1582 and The True Tragedie of Richarde Duke of Yorke & etc. of 1595, Shakespeare's source work for other plays. , , 1867}} According to Plutarch, after the assassination, Brutus stepped forward as if to say something to his fellow senators; they, however, fled the building. Brutus and his companions then marched to the Capitol while crying out to their beloved city: "People of Rome, we are once again free!" They were met with silence, as the citizens of Rome had locked themselves inside their houses as soon as the rumour of what had taken place had begun to spread. Caesar's dead body lay where it fell on the Senate floor for nearly three hours before other officials arrived to remove it. Caesar's body was cremated, and on the site of his cremation, the was erected a few years later (at the east side of the main square of the ). Only its altar now remains. A life-size wax statue of Caesar was later erected in the forum displaying the 23 stab wounds. A crowd who had gathered there started a fire, which badly damaged the forum and neighbouring buildings. In the ensuing chaos, Mark Antony, Octavian (later Augustus Caesar), and others fought a series of five civil wars, which would end in the formation of the Roman Empire. Aftermath of the assassination The result unforeseen by the assassins was that Caesar's death precipitated the end of the Roman Republic. The Roman , with whom Caesar was immensely popular and had been since before Gaul, became enraged that a small group of aristocrats had killed their champion. Antony, who had been drifting apart from Caesar, capitalised on the grief of the Roman mob and threatened to unleash them on the '' , perhaps with the intent of taking control of Rome himself. To his surprise and chagrin, Caesar had named his grandnephew his sole heir (hence the name Octavian), bequeathing him the immensely potent Caesar name and making him one of the wealthiest citizens in the Republic. }} The crowd at the funeral boiled over, throwing dry branches, furniture, and even clothing on to Caesar's funeral pyre, causing the flames to spin out of control, seriously damaging the Forum. The mob then attacked the houses of Brutus and Cassius, where they were repelled only with considerable difficulty, ultimately providing the spark for the , fulfilling at least in part Antony's threat against the aristocrats. Antony did not foresee the ultimate outcome of the next series of civil wars, particularly with regard to Caesar's adopted heir. Octavian, aged only 18 when Caesar died, proved to have considerable political skills, and while Antony dealt with in the first round of the new civil wars, Octavian consolidated his tenuous position. To combat Brutus and Cassius, who were massing an enormous army in Greece, Antony needed soldiers, the cash from Caesar's war chests, and the legitimacy that Caesar's name would provide for any action he took against them. With the passage of the lex Titia on 27 November 43 BC, the was officially formed, composed of Antony, Octavian, and Caesar's loyal cavalry commander . It formally Caesar as Divus Iulius in 42 BC, and Caesar Octavian henceforth became Divi filius ("Son of the divine"). Because Caesar's clemency had resulted in his murder, the Second Triumvirate reinstated the practice of , abandoned since Sulla. It engaged in the legally sanctioned killing of a large number of its opponents to secure funding for its 45 legions in the second civil war against Brutus and Cassius. Antony and Octavian defeated them at . , Caesar's adopted heir}} Afterward, Mark Antony formed an alliance with Caesar's lover, Cleopatra, intending to use the fabulously wealthy Egypt as a base to dominate Rome. A third civil war broke out between Octavian on one hand and Antony and Cleopatra on the other. This final civil war, culminating in the latter's defeat at in 31 BC and in 30 BC, resulted in the permanent ascendancy of Octavian, who became the first Roman emperor, under the name Caesar Augustus, a name conveying religious, rather than political, authority. Julius Caesar had been preparing to invade , the , and , and then march back to through Eastern Europe. These plans were thwarted by his assassination. His successors did attempt the conquests of Parthia and Germania, but without lasting results. Deification Julius Caesar was the first historical Roman to be officially deified. He was posthumously granted the title Divus Iulius (the divine/deified Julius) by decree of the Roman Senate on 1 January 42 BC. The during was taken as confirmation of his divinity. Though his temple was not dedicated until after his death, he may have received divine honours during his lifetime: and shortly before his assassination, Mark Antony had been appointed as his (priest). Both Octavian and Mark Antony promoted the cult of'' Divus Iulius''. After the death of Caesar, Octavian, as the adoptive son of Caesar, assumed the title of Divi Filius (son of a god). Personal life Health and physical appearance , }} Based on remarks by Plutarch, Caesar is sometimes thought to have suffered from . Modern scholarship is sharply divided on the subject, and some scholars believe that he was plagued by malaria, particularly during the Sullan proscriptions of the 80s. Other scholars contend his epileptic seizures were due to a by a tapeworm. Caesar had four documented episodes of what may have been complex partial seizures. He may additionally have had s in his youth. The earliest accounts of these seizures were made by the biographer Suetonius, who was born after Caesar died. The claim of epilepsy is countered among some medical historians by a claim of , which can cause epileptoid seizures. In 2003, psychiatrist Harbour F. Hodder published what he termed as the "Caesar Complex" theory, arguing that Caesar was a sufferer of and the debilitating symptoms of the condition were a factor in Caesar's conscious decision to forgo personal safety in the days leading up to his assassination. A line from Shakespeare has sometimes been taken to mean that he was deaf in one ear: "Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf". No classical source mentions hearing impairment in connection with Caesar. The playwright may have been making metaphorical use of a passage in Plutarch that does not refer to deafness at all, but rather to a gesture Alexander of Macedon customarily made. By covering his ear, Alexander indicated that he had turned his attention from an accusation in order to hear the defence. Francesco M. Galassi and Hutan Ashrafian suggest that Caesar's behavioral manifestations—headaches, vertigo, falls (possibly caused by muscle weakness due to nerve damage), sensory deficit, giddiness and insensibility—and syncopal episodes were the results of cerebrovascular episodes, not epilepsy. Pliny the Elder reports in his that Caesar's father and forefather died without apparent cause while putting on their shoes. These events can be more readily associated with cardiovascular complications from a stroke episode or lethal heart attack. Caesar possibly had a genetic predisposition for cardiovascular disease. , writing more than a century after Caesar's death, describes Caesar as "tall of stature with a fair complexion, shapely limbs, a somewhat full face, and keen black eyes". Name and family The name Gaius Julius Caesar Using the of the period, which lacked the letters J'' and ''U, Caesar's name would be rendered GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR; the form CAIVS is also attested, using the older Roman representation of G'' by ''C. The standard abbreviation was C. IVLIVS CÆSAR, reflecting the older spelling. (The letterform Æ'' is a of the letters ''A and E'', and is often used in Latin s to save space.) In Classical Latin, it was ˈjuːl.i.ʊs ˈkae̯sar. In the days of the late Roman Republic, many historical writings were done in Greek, a language most educated Romans studied. Young wealthy Roman boys were often taught by Greek slaves and sometimes sent to for advanced training, as was Caesar's principal assassin, . In , during Caesar's time, his family name was written Καίσαρ (''Kaísar), reflecting its contemporary pronunciation. Thus, his name is pronounced in a similar way to the pronunciation of the German . In , the original first began to be pronounced as a simple long vowel . Then, the before s began, due to , to be pronounced as an , hence renderings like in and in , as well as the title of . With the evolution of the , the affricate became a (thus, ) in many regional pronunciations, including the French one, from which the modern English pronunciation is derived. Caesar's itself became a title; it was promulgated by the , which contains the famous verse " the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's". The title became in and or Czar in the . The last Tsar in nominal power was , whose reign ended in 1946. This means that for two thousand years after Julius Caesar's assassination, there was at least one head of state bearing his name. Family ;Parents * Father (proconsul of in 90s BC) * Mother (one of the ) ;Sisters * * ;Wives * First marriage to , from 84 BC until her death in 69 or 68 BC * Second marriage to , from 67 BC until he divorced her around 61 BC over the * Third marriage to , from 59 BC until Caesar's death and her son by Julius Caesar, at the }} from the House of Giuseppe II, , early 1st century AD, most likely depicting , wearing her royal , , while her son , also wearing a royal diadem, stands behind her}} ;Children * , by Cornelia, born in 83 or 82 BC * , by , born 47 BC, and killed at age 17 by Caesar's adopted son Octavianus. * Posthumously adopted: , his great-nephew by blood (grandson of ), who later became Emperor Augustus. Suspected Children * (born 85 BC): The historian notes that Caesar believed Brutus to have been his illegitimate son, as his mother had been Caesar's lover during their youth. Caesar would have been 15 years old when Brutus was born. * (born ca. 60s BC), the daughter of Caesar's lover was believed by among other contemporaries, to be Caesar's natural daughter. * (born ca. 85–81 BC): On several occasions Caesar expressed how he loved Decimus Brutus like a son. This Brutus was also named an heir of Caesar in case Octavius had died before the latter. argued that if a Brutus was the natural son of Caesar, Decimus was more likely than . ;Grandchildren * Grandchild from and , dead at several days, unnamed. ;Lovers * , mother of * , mother of Brutus * , queen of and wife of es ;Notable relatives * (married to his paternal aunt ) * (his relative through Antony's mother ) * (his third-cousin) Rumors of passive homosexuality Roman society viewed the passive role during , regardless of gender, to be a sign of submission or inferiority. Indeed, Suetonius says that in Caesar's Gallic triumph, his soldiers sang that, "Caesar may have conquered the Gauls, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar." According to Cicero, , , and others (mainly Caesar's enemies), he had an affair with early in his career. The stories were repeated, referring to Caesar as the Queen of Bithynia, by some Roman politicians as a way to humiliate him. Caesar himself denied the accusations repeatedly throughout his lifetime, and according to , even under oath on one occasion. This form of slander was popular during this time in the Roman Republic to demean and discredit political opponents. wrote two poems suggesting that Caesar and his engineer were lovers, but later apologised. charged that Octavian had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favors. Suetonius described Antony's accusation of an affair with Octavian as political . Octavian eventually became the first Roman Emperor as Augustus. Literary works During his lifetime, Caesar was regarded as one of the best orators and prose authors in Latin—even Cicero spoke highly of Caesar's rhetoric and style. Only Caesar's war commentaries have survived. A few sentences from other works are quoted by other authors. Among his lost works are for his paternal aunt and his , a document written to defame in response to Cicero's published praise. are also mentioned in ancient sources. Memoirs * The , usually known in English as The Gallic Wars, seven books each covering one year of his campaigns in Gaul and southern Britain in the 50s BC, with the eighth book written by on the last two years. * The (The Civil War), events of the Civil War from Caesar's perspective, until immediately after Pompey's death in Egypt. Other works historically have been attributed to Caesar, but their authorship is in doubt: * (On the Alexandrine War), campaign in Alexandria; * (On the African War), campaigns in North Africa; and * (On the Hispanic War), campaigns in the . These narratives were written and published annually during or just after the actual campaigns, as a sort of "dispatches from the front." They were important in shaping Caesar's public image and enhancing his reputation when he was away from Rome for long periods. They may have been presented as public readings. As a model of clear and direct Latin style, The Gallic Wars traditionally has been studied by first- or second-year Latin students. Legacy Historiography The texts written by Caesar, an autobiography of the most important events of his public life, are the most complete for the reconstruction of his biography. However, Caesar wrote those texts with his political career in mind, so historians must filter the exaggerations and bias contained in it. The Roman emperor began a of Caesar, which described Augustus as Caesar's political heir. The modern historiography is influenced by the Octavian traditions, such as when Caesar's epoch is considered a turning point in the history of the Roman Empire. Still, historians try to filter the Octavian bias. Many rulers in history became interested in the . wrote the scholarly work , which was not finished. The second volume listed previous rulers interested in the topic. ordered a monk to prepare a translation of the Gallic Wars in 1480. ordered a topographic study in France, to place The Gallic Wars in context; which created forty high-quality maps of the conflict. The contemporary Ottoman sultan catalogued the surviving editions of the Commentaries, and translated them to Turkish language. and of France translated the first two commentaries and the last two respectively; retranslated the first one afterwards. Politics Julius Caesar is seen as the main example of , a form of political rule led by a tic whose rule is based upon a , whose rationale is the need to rule by force, establishing a violent , and being a regime involving prominence of the in the government. Other people in history, such as the French and the Italian , have defined themselves as Caesarists. Bonaparte did not focus only on Caesar's military career but also on his relation with the masses, a predecessor to . The word is also used in a pejorative manner by critics of this type of political rule. Depictions File:Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BC).JPG|Bust in , photograph published in 1902 Giulio-cesare-enhanced 1-800x1450.jpg|Bust in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples File:C. Julius-Caesar (British Museum).gif|Bust of Julius Caesar from the File:Rimini083.jpg|Modern bronze statue of Julius Caesar, , Italy Chronology of life Notes References Category:Empires